FIFA Street 3 – Reviewed

By Philip Dunkley

Once again I find myself in a strange position of reviewing a game that did not initially rile up any deep emotions when it was announced or released, but was more of an “I’ll get to it when I have nothing to do” sort of title. Now this can be either a good thing or a terribly bad thing, as the game in question comes from one of my favourite franchises, well sort of.

You see, for those who have never played any of the FIFA Street games, it’s more of a football showpiece than anything remotely resembling a real football simulator, showing off all the skill and over the top abilities that players tend to only bring out for large endorsement advertisements or when their team is beating another team by 5 goals and they just plainly want to show off how good they are, or alternatively in a real form of football known as Street football, Google it, it’s amazing what these guys can do.

Now the opinions of this game, with its quirky character graphics and over the top game play, vary drastically from person to person, and review to review, but I believe that this is one of the easier reviews to have to do, and it’s a formula that seems to be creeping in from EA more and more lately. It’s fun. Simple as that, Fun. Yes it has flaws, yes it has “cropping” here and “AI” problems there and a few “stuttering” problems in the middle, but it’s at least a better version than the last two from EA, and it’s a showpiece, a game that lets loose on all fronts, bringing simple controls, over the top game play to the masses. It reminds me of game I used to play at the arcades many years ago, called “NBA Jam”. Now I know this is not an NBA title, but the concept was the same, big tricks, fast action and all out chaos.

Let me give you the lowdown. You basically have about 250 players in the game, all established players in their various real world teams, which can be unlocked via a challenge system. These are ranked challenges that pit you against another team for a few smaller contests, with different winning conditions, like scoring only with headers and volleys, or no gamebreaker goals (A kind of trick meter that fills up the more you do tricks). Now this section is one of the letdowns of the game. There is no real career mode to capture your attention, more of an annoying challenge system that seems to be repetitive and gets harder and harder as you progress, but then again, this game is not about careers and in depth campaigns, it’s about bringing on the style and playing against your mates. Please don’t get me wrong here, the game is not fantastic or jaw dropping by any means, but it seems to grab your attention like that song on radio that you know you shouldn’t like, because it’s from some cheesy artist that should not be cool at all, but you sing along to it anyway. The gameplay is fast, the soundtrack rocks, and fits in really well with the overall theme, with some seriously cool tunes that will keep your foot tapping for hours. The tricks are huge, and the overall presentation is good, with graphics as good as any football game and I especially like the comic feel to the players and animations.

Look, there is not a lot more I can say about this game. It has not got much depth, it can get irritating and it lacks single player appeal. But throw a mate into the mix, and it becomes electric (This is the only way I can describe it). It’s mindless fun that will keep people entertained as a local multiplayer game, and can get seriously involved the more you play against each other. If you enjoyed the arcade types of these games, give it a try, if you like the depth of FIFA 08 (I LOVE THIS GAME, Sorry had to throw that in) or other franchises of more simulation type football, then steer clear. That’s that.

Scoring:
Graphics – 70%
Playability – 75%
Originality – 70%
Tilt Factor (This is the wow Factor) – 75%
Overall – 70%(Average – Good)

This was reviewed on the PS3

Last Updated: March 4, 2008